The truth
by coelibear
Summary: My alternative take on the ending of OUAT's season 3, because I'm really tired of Regina not having her own happy ending. Some scenes (like Emma & Hook's time in the past) have not been changed. All characters are owned by the creators of Once Upon a Time. This is my third story for the Swan Queen ship. My take on the tandem starts with my other shorts, Heart's Desire and Home.


_Early in the morning..._

"So...I heard the mayor has been spotted kissing a certain outlaw. "

Regina slowly turned around, surprised by Emma's greeting. The latter usually loved to surprise her with kisses on the neck when they were alone.

"I'm not going to deny that," Regina replied, crossing her arms as Emma entered the room and closed the door. "But I have to say I'm surprised to hear that accusatory tone from the person who has been spotted making out with a pirate."

Emma crossed the room and stood in front of her beloved. "I'm sorry," she said. She sighed and put her hands in the pockets of her red leather jacket.

"We've been over this, Emma."

Emma bit her lip. "I know, I'm sorry. I just wasn't...you know," she said worriedly.

"You just wasn't what?" Regina asked, still not budging. Emma was not very vocal with her feelings, and so Regina always took advantage in times like this, hardening herself against the lure of Emma's tender gaze. She had been encouraging Emma to open up, and it was finally paying off.

Emma sighed, taking her hands out of her pockets. "I wasn't ready for the jealousy I'd feel to know you're kissing someone else!" she exclaimed.

Regina resisted the urge to smile. "Well now you know how _I_ feel about you and Hook."

"I'm sorry," Emma said, blushing. She hesitated then held out her arms. Regina raised an eyebrow then finally hugged her lover, still hiding her smile of joy in knowing that Emma felt so strongly about her, enough to be jealous.

After a few seconds, Emma held Regina back and stared deep into her eyes. "You know we could just totally avoid these feelings if we just tell everyone about us, right?"

"You know why we can't!"

"I don't care what the people will say. And my parents will love me, I'm sure."

Regina freed herself from the embrace. "Henry. I'm talking about Henry," she snapped.

"Henry?!" Emma said, bewildered. "Regina, we've lived in New York the past year. Believe me, Henry is pretty used to these things. And he's been through weirder stuff, like getting possessed by an evil boy who turned out to be his great-grandfather."

But Regina just waved off those memories. As far as she was concerned, getting possessed was normal in her world.

"_I _have had a hard time accepting my feelings for you. I don't think a boy as young as Henry will be able to understand," she said haughtily.

Emma shook her head. "This is the 21st century, Regina, plus Henry has seen through a lot of weirdness already. He has even accepted that I'm the Chosen One," she said exasperatedly.

Regina opened her mouth to retort when someone knocked hard on the door.

"Come in," Regina called out.

Hook opened the door and stuck his head in. "Oh!" he exclaimed when he saw Emma. "What are you doing here?"

Emma was so startled but she settled for taking a deep breath instead. "Just taking about Henry," she said hurriedly. "What are _you _doing here?"

Hook relaxed and entered Regina's office. "I was looking for you but I couldn't find you, so I thought I'd ask the mayor if she can find you."

Regina was still incensed over her argument with Emma, and seeing that...that man with the outdated and overly greasy hair making googly eyes at her girlfriend just irritated her further. "Well what do you want?" she snapped.

Hook was unfazed by her tone. He's been through worse with her. He held out both hands as if to say calm down. He turned to Emma again. "Well Emma, my love, your father, Charging" asked me to talk to you about something private so if you could step out with me please? "

Emma hesitated, but she was also curious about what Hook had to say. She turned to Regina, her eyes begging for understanding, but Regina's eyes gave nothing away. "I'll update you about Henry's year in New York some other time then," she said.

"Don't worry, I'll be here," Regina said.

Hook nodded in her direction then walked after Emma out the door.

_Later in the woods_

"So what did you want to talk about?" Emma asked, hands in her back pockets.

"Well Henry has been talking about looking into apartments here, but from what you told me, you're moving back to New York soon," he said. A forelock drifted across his eye, and he carefully tucked it behind his ear. "

Emma pursed her lips. "We can't stay here," she said after a while. "We have a good life in New York, and Henry was happy there."

Hook raised an eyebrow. "Seems to me that if the kid is looking for an apartment that means he's happy to live here, too," he countered. He stroked his chin. "So why are you really running away, Swan?"

Emma turned away from him hastily. She couldn't admit that one of the primary reasons she had for going back to New York was that so she and Regina didn't have to hide their relationship anymore. She wasn't worried about Henry. In fact she thinks he'll be ecstatic that he'll finally have his to beloved moms. But it seemed to her that even though Regina had lived in her world for so many years already, that doesn't mean that she was living in the 21st century. Maybe if Regina was exposed to other gay couples, she'd see that they were in fact...normal. Or as normal as the Evil Queen who time travelled to the present could possibly be.

She turned to Hook and was about to change the topic when she saw something from afar that chilled her blood. "What is that?" she cried out.

"I think it's a remnant of the Wicked Witch. It's been growing steadily over the hour," Hook said. He grabbed Emma's arm as soon as she shifted. "Don't. It could be dangerous."

Emma shook free of his grasp. "We have to check it out. If it's dangerous then we have to tell everyone and be prepared!" She ran towards the tornado-like disturbance in the distance.

Hook shook his head and ran after her. "The things I do for love," he muttered under his breath.

_A couple of hours later..._

Emma was thrown out of the portal, followed by the maiden she had saved from the dungeon. Without a warning, the portal closed. She stood up and noticed that Hook wasn't in the barn.

"Hook? Hook!" she called out.

The maiden shook her head. "He wasn't able to make it," she whispered. "I'm sorry. If you didn't save me-"

But Emma cut her off. "Everything happens for a reason. Besides, if there is anyone in this town who could find a way to get back to this world, it would be Hook," she assured the woman.

Inwardly she was filled with guilt, but it had been Hook's decision to follow her to the portal and his decision to fight back the soldiers while she and the maiden jumped through first. And if there was anything she believed from her time in Storybrooke, it was that everything happens for a reason.

Besides, she really believed that Hook would find a way to get back to the present day if he really wanted to.

"Let's just go find my family, okay?" she asked the stranger, who never revealed her name.

"Okay," the maiden said meekly, looking around her and taking everything in.

_Later at Granny's_

Emma rushed to the door when she realized all her family and friends were assembled there. She turned to the stranger. "Everyone's here! That will make it easier for me to introduce you to everyone."

Emma opened the door and stepped in. She was just in time to hear her parents announce the name of her new baby brother. That still felt a little weird to think about. She shook her head.

The people noticed her arrival and they turned to her. She stepped aside, urging the woman to stand beside her. "Everyone, this is-"

"Marian?"

Everyone turned towards the back, where Regina and Robin had been cozied up for the past hour. He was looking incredulous as he rushed towards the lady he called Marian.

"Mom?!" his son shouted, also running towards the newcomer.

While the trio celebrated their joyous reunion, eyes swiveled to look at Regina.

Regina walked up to Emma. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but she knew the people expected her to react. "You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? You're just like your mother!" she accused angrily. She sidestepped Emma, but the latter grabbed her arm. And before she could resist, Emma swooped in and kissed her gently for what seemed like an eternity.

The diner suddenly turned quiet.

Emma broke the kiss and leaned her forward against Regina's. "Everyone keeps saying I'm the savior. I've already saved everyone in this town, but maybe the person I was truly meant to save was _you_, " she whispered.


End file.
